Walmart prepares for Flipkart’s $10b US IPO listing, sources say

“Work on the IPO (initial public offering) is on in full swing and the advent of the pandemic has only hastened the process, given the spectacular surge in demand on ecommerce platforms,” said one of the two people cited in the report.

The potential IPO comes amid a booming online market that has raised valuations of ecommerce companies.

Flipkart’s own valuation – if a US$10 billion IPO does push through – would reach US$40 billion, double its valuation when Walmart acquired it in 2018.

At the moment, Walmart’s stake in Flipkart stands at 82.3%, with Tiger Global, Tencent, Accel Partners, and Microsoft being the other key investors.

If Flipkart’s IPO plans succeed, it will be the largest by an Indian-based company on an overseas exchange.

Last week, the company announced a “partial spin-off” of its digital payments arm PhonePe, which bagged an investment of US$700 million in a new round of financing led by Walmart.

Earlier in July, Flipkart itself raised US$1.2 billion in a fresh round of funding led by the US retail giant.

Flipkart competes with other companies such as Jeff Bezos-led Amazon and Reliance Retail, which raised US$6.4 billion in its recent funding run to ramp up its online business to challenge the existing players in the Indian market.